Today’s Seattle Times had a good article by Larry Stone on Red Sox rookie starter Jon Lester, who grew up a Mariners fan in Tacoma, Washington.

David Scott did a good job covering the NESN/Satellite/Out of Market issue in Scott’s Shots this morning. The Yanksfan vs Soxfan blog also had some strong thoughts on the matter.

WEEI has been crowing about their ratings once again this morning, and truth be told, they have bounced back pretty nicely from a tough winter. However in the overall scheme of things, they remain tied for third in the Boston market behind WBZ and WJMN. The numbers from the Spring ’06 Book also reflect that WEEI remains .08 of a point below the same time period a year ago.

ABC has coverage of the British Open this weekend from the Royal Liverpool Golf Club in Hoylake, England.

The ABC production will include:

* “Only at the Open” segments that will recap shots and elements that seem to be unique to the British Open.
* Players walking through their practice rounds as they prepare for a course they have never seen.
* A segment on what players pack for this trip.
* X-Mo camera, a super slow-motion camera for swing analysis.

Monday will see the debut of Outside the Lines First Report hosted by Bob Ley on ESPN. This 3:30 PM daily show will replace and expand upon the Outside the Lines Nightly show which had aired at 12:40 AM nightly.